Online sales of stolen gear prompt call to list serial numbers

Don't think that will work.

So are the serial numbers just going to be placed on each advert? And will there be any cross reference to ensure duplicates, or reposts. As soon as a serial number is added anyone with nicked equipment will just use what looks like a genuine serial number. Hell, maybe this will allow them to create genuine serial number stickers and then flog it off down the car boot. When the police check, it's genuine.

Serial numbers should be tracked by the owner, AND by the manufacturer.

If someone nicks your HP Laptop, YOU phone HP and tell them that it's been nicked. Then, when someone decides to update drivers, or autodetect my system and tell me what drivers I need. Bing! thats a hit. flag their vistiting IP address and invite them to have them emailed instead of downloading them that gets turned over to the police.

Hell, they could even be evil and say that there is a "critical BIOS patch" that must be installed. The Thief (or at least the receiver of the stolen goods) downloads it, applies it. Hey presto one Brick that just displays.....

THIS IS STOLEN... IT HAS BEEN DISABLED.... TAKE IT TO YOUR NEAREST POLICE STATION.

(at this point it's probably going to be lobbed in the nearest bin)

If it does get to a police station somehow. police return it to the owner along with the crime reference number. they phone up the manufacturer and maybe fax a copy of the police doumentation. HP Ship out BIOS repair CD and a recovery CD as well.

Serial Database?

...err, won't that mean that you'll then have access to a huge number of real serial numbers to use in your advert, with the buyer only realising when they get the product delivered - assuming they even verify the number once they have the product.

Excellent Idea - Other uses too..

Excellent Idea serial numbers cant be changed, and can be verified online in advance of sale. Could wipe out memcard fraud issues easily.

I will remember to ask for serial in all sales before I buy in future !!

if seller wont comply it's a fraud...

Still a problem with no post frauds though...

what authentication verification

Would undermine the profitability of our walled semi anonymous black market and repress sales of stolen, misrepresented, or nonexistent items how would that profit us.

Easy

Its all to easy. We simply require that every product sold over a given value be tagged with an unique serial number - along with an encrypted validation key. Preferably in a RFID tag as well. Then, since we will all be buying on-line, we require that the vendors record all ID tags - which since it will only be eBay, Amazon and Google left will be easy. Indeed, clearly Google can simply add the records of the IDs of everything you own to their already voluminous database of your everyday habits. Since all second hand buying and selling will be done on eBay, and all purchaes paid for with PayPal we can track everything.

At some point a bit later we simply outlaw the use of cash, or indeed the use of any non-approved (i.e. not owned by Google, eBay or Amazon) shops or services. The need to prove ownership of anything ceases, all you need do is have the police Google for your complete list of posessions. Clearly if you have anything in your possession that doesn't appear on your Google inventory, you are not entitled to it, and can be summarily arrested. Birthday and Christmas presents can be tackled by a new targetted on-line services - which since this is where the present will be purchased from is no problem. A new all of society social network Web 2.0 enabled mash up I think.

My goodness, it is all so obvious. It can all be done with just a single click. Hmm, maybe I should patent this.......

Anonymous Coward (12:19 GMT)

I'm afraid you're wrong in this case. I used to work in IT for DSG (yes, I know, cringe) and I now run an online business (ltd. company) selling through a few websites and a few eBay accounts. Our name and company registration number is on every page but our address is not shown to the buyer until just before they pay.

Why?

Because we operate from a residential address (bought two next door houses and knocked 'em together - upstairs is home, downstairs is work) and we hold expensive stock. Sure, we have comprehensive business insurance but even so information is power.

How is it legal?

The DSRs state that the customer has to have the full business information before the transaction takes place. Selling on a website, the transaction doesn't commence until the buyer pays, and on eBay selling items and requiring immediate payment, payment and the legal contract of buying merge into one.

Long story short, you're wrong.

save

this could save me a fortune buying windoze licenses and any other software .hope they do it

Err. IMEI's

your all talking about sellers harvisting IMEI's, or making them up. the make, model and country of origin can all be determined from your phones IMEI.

It wouldnt be at all difficult for ebay to verify the make and model and whether an IMEI is valid or not. The bay could easily track duplicates, and advise buyers to check the IMEI upon receipt (Which ebay should disclose to the buyer once the transaction has completed), if it doesnt match, then the buyer gets a refund, the seller screwed over and banned. Simple.

I've bought and sold a good few phones on ebay, and this sounds like a good idea to me.

Re: Ebay should comply with the LAW

Most people on the Internet are nervous about supplying things like Name, Address, Phone Number and email address because these things can be used for Identity Theft and to send you SPAM so they think why should I do something so dumb. If the British Police and New Scotland Yard are willing to compensate them for every time their Identity is stolen because they complied with the law those organizations will go in to receivership pretty darn quick in my opinion. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Only way this could be done was if

There was an ISO-standard for serial numbers on all equipment. Why? Because as long as each manufacturer has their own standard, there is NO easy way for an automatic system to verify that the serial number entered actally checks out as one. Some manufacturers even manage to have several standards for serial numbers, due to purchasing other companies, AND their "re-branding" policy.

If there was an ISO-Standard ebay could automatically verify the serial numbers. Easily. If the standard even was smart enough to include "special" numbers that contain information such as "compartment demonstration model", the idea of using the serial number from the one in the local shop doesn't really help you much. Since this standardized serial number would autmatically provide ebay with model info, the fraud from marketing one thing as a Rolls Royce, and selling a Lada, would get fairly impractical. Add to that a setup with pre-paid "ownership change" papers to send in to the manufacturer, and a process of automatically send the new set of ownership papers to the new adress. Add to that a standard of returning things to the registered adress whenever things has been in for service, and we may be close to a solution.

This will of course only happen the day pigs grow tired of ice-skating in hell, and fly off into the sunset.

Why?

Because, as someone else has said, ebay has no real reason to care if what is sold is illegal/stolen/counterfeit/broken. They get their money anyway. Only there is one small way we can give them some incentive.

Dealing with stolen/misrepresented/illegal goods is a criminal offence, and should you or I do it, we would face criminal charges, and jailtime, for handling the transaction. Since ebay's accountants handle these transactions, make them PERSONALLY reponsible. The accounting part of any company tends to be the favourite pets of the administration. Thus, the administration may take a dim view on their accountants being arrested and tossed in jail. Especially since these accountants have a strong lawsuit against their employer for becoming crminals... If the persons being responsible for this starts to have a personal interest of making sure things are as they should be, we might see an improvement on their willingness to fix the problem.

//Svein

Its actually a great idea but not for the intended reason...

Tracking stolen merchandise is one thing.

Verifying that the goods are valid are another.

An example? Suppose you wanted to buy a used er "pre-owned" Cisco router. (You don't always need the latest and greatest...)

How do you know that the Cisco router advertised on e-Bay is legit and not a copy? Cisco and other manufacturers do track the serial numbers of the products that they manufacture and you can then tell some information about it.

The biggest reason isn't to catch a thief of stolen kit, but those who are selling counterfeit goods.

Sure the seller can use a fake serial number, or a real serial number but not the one that they shipped. But then again, how long will they last before getting nabbed?

Of course, buyer beware is still the mod.

It could work

I frown upon the idea of valid serial numbers being posted on the Internet because whilst that might be good for the good guys, the bad guys would reap the benefit of being able to get a shedload of good serial numbers for free.

However this could potentially work okay if the serial number was passed thru a one way encryption algorithym to produce a unique listable number. The software authors (etc) could declare illegal numbers which had passed thru this algorithym, and the fraudster wouldn't be able to reverse engineer the given number back to something which could be useful to them.

I originally thought of this general idea for identification of paedophile's, as it is is a little less confrontational than tattooing 'paedophile' on their forehead, which is what those scum really deserve.